In an interview to Indian Express, District Collector Naval Kishore Ram, also the district election officer, appeals to voters, especially in urban areas of Maval and Shirur, to turn out in large numbers on polling day.

Adhalrao has won thrice from the area, once from Khed and twice from Shirur, after it was renamed following delimitation, and always won with huge margins. However, political analysts and residents believe the contest this time will be a close one.

Both seats go to polls on Monday, in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. In Maval, initially, both Shiv Sena candidate and sitting MP Shrirang Barne and NCP candidate Parth Pawar had refrained from criticising each other but started doing so later.

Spread across 472 hectares, Bolni is made up of 715 households and has a population of 3,636. Most families are involved in farming and cultivation, while close to 50 claim to have men posted in the Army.

As many as 517 animals had died due to ‘Foot and Mouth’ disease in Fatehabad and Sirsa district in 2018. Officials said that Haemorrhagic Septicaemia, which is commonly known as ‘Gal Ghotu’ disease, was also responsible for some of these deaths.

Union minister VK Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal will accompany Sunny Deol to the nomination centre. His actor and former BJP MP father Dharmendra and actor brother Bobby Deol will also remain present.

Harbans Kaur Dullo, a former Congress MLA joined the AAP on April 17 and was immediately rewarded with the ticket for Fatehgarh Sahib (reserved) Lok Sabha seat, replacing Baljinder Singh Chaundha, whose name the party had announced earlier.

For Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union minister in Narendra Modi cabinet, it is battle that seeks to resurrect the Shiromani Akali Dal that was rendered a pale shadow of itself in 2017 assembly election owing to the anti-incumbency wave and anger of the electorate at emotive issue of sacrilege.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was quick to act and filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) asking it to file a case against Warring and cancel his nomination for trying to bribe voters.

State Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore said the fresh complaint was filed against Satpal Singh Satti for using the term 'chandal chowkri' (group of demons) to describe Congress leaders during an election meeting at Chaura Maidan in Shimla on Thursday.

Nazar Singh Manshahia, who was elected on AAP ticket and had been supporting PEP, joined the Congress Thursday, voter says had they wanted a Congress MLA, they would have voted for the party in 2017 Assembly polls.

The Shirur parliamentary seat was created following the delimitation exercise in 2009. Earlier, it was known as Khed constituency. It has around two lakh Dalit votes. Bhima Koregaon, which shot to prominence on January 1, 2018, due to violent incidents, is located in Shirur.

There is a range of issues that young voters feel are important, from errant auto-rickshaw drivers and healthcare to education and employment. Anjali Pandirkar, a resident of Ambernath in Thane, feels it is vital that first-time voters cast their votes by weighing local candidates and the work done by them.

Although the CM did not name any political party or leader, the apparent reference to the Congress, NCP and MNS as foxes, jackals and parrots and PM Modi as a lion and Shiv Sena president as tiger seemed obvious and struck a chord with the massive gathering.

BJP’s sitting MP Kapil Moreshwar Patil is seeking a second term against Congress’ Suresh Kashinath Taware here. In 2014 Lok Sabha, Patil had won with a margin of 1.09 lakh votes.

Saying the chemistry between the Congress and the NCP in the state was excellent, Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that Modi’s rally in Mumbai (on Friday) was planned out of fear caused by the surge of the Congress-led alliance.

While the fight is likely to be a close one between Sena and Congress, the entry of former MP Bhausasheb Wakchaure — who was with the BJP till recently — as a rebel candidate, has made the contest triangular.

While stating that the middle class has the potential to drive the country and its honesty and hard work were the very backbone of new India, Modi said: “Tax, inflation and corruption have been checked by our government which have a direct bearing on the honest middle class.”

In a show of power, the entire road towards mini-secretariat was dotted with Bittu’s posters and hoardings as he arrived in the 1985-model White Ambassador of his grandfather and former Punjab CM Beant Singh. AICC in-charge Punjab affairs Asha Kumari accompanied Bittu.

He first won Lok Sabha polls from Anandpur Sahib in 2009 and then from Ludhiana in 2014. In 2017, Bittu contested Punjab assembly polls from Jalalabad constituency against then deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and state AAP chief Bhagwant Mann.

Manshahia had been one of the most prominent of the eight rebel AAP MLAs who had sided with Khaira when he was removed as the Leader of Opposition. The number of rebels has now come down to four.

In the final leg of campaigning in Dhule, where Union MoS (Defence) Subhash Bhamre is seeking a second consecutive term, political formations, on either side of the spectrum, are pushing religion to the fore.

Addressing a rally in Banda district of Bundelkhand region, the Prime Minister said, “SP-BSP people are busy distributing certificates of my caste, while the Congress is busy abusing my community people in the name of Modi.”

Though the Election Commission (EC) introduced measures to make polling more accessible, including putting braille on ballot units for visually-impaired people, accessibility to booths remains a problem.